Fed pups, bought in some more wood
with the pups running around and finding interest in everything.
Ran myself late, 10.30am an hour before sunrise. I took Thule
with me. I want her to realize that every time we’re together
it’s not all about me teaching her new things. I want
her to be able to switch off and have a play too. We ran on
the river. She ran ahead and came back every time I asked her
to. There seemed to be plenty of smells for her to investigate.
Mostly things that had fallen off snow mobiles, fuel cans and
rags mostly. I took Blitz out for some extra attention. He has
for some reason that eludes me, become a little distant and
hard to approach. Kids.

Thursday,
November 18th

I now split adult food into morning
and evening feeds on rest days to fuel their increased training
runs and plummeting temperatures. I’ll keep this up until
they start to gain and maintain more muscle.

Email from a contact in Iqualuit with three sibling Canadian
Eskimo dogs for sale. Originally the brothers were bought
from an Inuit gentleman by the name of Panuele Okango in Pond
Inlet. Born November 17th 2003 makes them one year old yesterday.
Apparently they’re all strong pullers and were harnessed
for the first time last April. Getting them from Iqualuit
won’t be a costly deal either. Luckily I know someone
flying the route to Inuvik this year. Dogs can go as access
baggage that costs a snip. If they were to go as cargo the
freight cost would quadruple. The sun rose at 11.25am and
set at 3.55pm, four and a half hours daylight.

Saturday,
November 20th

I took Blitz, Twizzle and Spoons
out for a walk with friends and their kids. It was an important
socializing lesson for the puppies and they responded well to
being handled. I handed out milk bones for the kids to reward
the pups. Before long they were all running alongside one another
and playing in the snow.

Sunday,
November 21st

I ran on the river ice this morning
with Twizzle. In a few weeks I’ll harness him for the
first time and take him out with the adults for a short run
of less than two miles.

Monday,
November 22nd

Ran on the river early. There’s
an old native guy living in a wall tent just outside of the
community. He watched me for ages before I passed him on the
other side of the river. He was axing through the ice for
a bucket of water.

Good two and a half hour run with the adults up river. Lots
of play with the pups this afternoon. Everything now is fair
game for an investigative chew, everything.

Tuesday,
November 23rd

I had someone from the UK email,
asking me to add my name to a petition to stop Americans in
helicopters shooting wolves. I replied:

“Thanks for
your 'petition email'. I'm still in the Arctic. In a week
we'll see the sun for the last time, until next year. As
usual every year, since the freeze-up wolves have been coming
into the community here and killing dogs, even penned pups.
Wolves carry rabies here and are always a potential threat
in the community, especially to kids on their way to school.
Alaska suffers this too.

I did notice from
the most recent signatures that not a single one is from
a northern state. It's very easy for someone to say ban
something when the gripe doesn't affect their everyday lives.
Sorry, but I won't sign the petition. I wear fur and feed
my dogs seal meat and a lot of people would fail to understand
that too. You've got to live here to see why”.

Gary Rolfe

A swift email reply apologized for offending me.

I don’t know what it is about dog owners and their
fascination with wolves and making out they own a wolf hybrid.
They used to say the ancient Inuit would stakeout their in-season
bitches for a male wolf to mate with her. The reality is nonsense.
Male wolves are unique in that they are only fertile at certain
times of the year. Instead of a love bite a staked out bitch
is likely to be eaten. And in any case any hybrid progeny
make useless sled dogs. They’re antisocial and won’t
breed.

Once the east channel freezes wolves hit Inuvik every winter.
Soon enough rabies awareness posters appear throughout the
community. I remember wolves slaughtered eighteen dogs here
in the winter of 2001. Last February they were everywhere.
I made a trip and I passed moose kill after moose kill. What
a way for a dog to die.

Rested adults and took pups out
individually this afternoon. More ‘sit’, ‘stay’
and for fast learning Blitz and Twizzle ‘lay down’
training. I’m so pleased and proud the way they’re
going. Ran alone on the river, late, in the dark and returned
to eat a huge amount of food.

Wednesday,
November 24th

Weighed everybody best I could
hold them while I stepped on scale placed on a piece of plywood.
Blitz weighs 31lb and Spoons 26lb.

I smear Bag Balm over my face after running alone on the
river this morning. This protective gel doesn’t contain
water that would otherwise freeze to my face. I apply it to
the dogs too. Open wounds heal fast with it and it protects
a dog’s frostbitten dick. This happens if they get an
erection in the cold and keep thinking about it.

The river is where I continue to train to
make life that little bit harder. Running on the river is
several degrees colder than a shoreline trail. I cough like
a smoker until air humidifies before hitting my lungs. I draw
my neck warmer over my mouth to warm air quicker.

I get indoors and steam like
a race-horse. Over the phone I paid for one ton of processed
chicken. Judi’s husband Olav will bring this back on
his return from Edmonton on his freightliner. Splitting wood
tonight a piece shot into the side of my dog flight crates.
It shattered like glass in the cold.

Saturday,
November 27th

Twizzle is five months old today.

Sunday,
November 28th

I was with Albert while he checked his
net under the ice.

Tonight I begin boiling all fish catches
before feeding. Everything I own smells of fish.